Peter Simek did an interview with me in Dallas and asked some questions that were challenging. I think the conversation is worth a read. There have been a couple questions floating around that were not addressed in the interview. I’ve heard rumors that I was paid to do the murals and paid to DJ in Dallas. Neither is true. Dallas Contemporary paid for some of the costs, but a lot came out of my own pocket. I do street art because I think it is important for public expression and discourse. In fact, I lose quite a lot of money doing street art, but I can afford ambitious street projects by selling art and posters. Street art is free for the public, but costly to the artists. There seems to be a strange and unrealistic standard for street artist. If a street artist’s model could be compared to a rock band’s, it would be like saying a band does their version of street art by touring cities and playing free public concerts, but then their audience is appalled if they sell CD’s or tee shirts to pay for those free concerts, and if they do, their good will in playing free concerts is dismissed as an evil marketing scheme to sell more CD’s. I look at myself as someone who wants to empower artists(including myself) and so I refuse to subscribe to a dysfunctional standard toward street artists that does nothing but hold us back. I’ve been called a sellout for using platforms for my art other than just the street, but I think there are many valid ways to share one’s art with the public and many valid ways to solve the difficult problem of surviving financially as an artist.

-Shepard